GRAHAM CANTY and Ciarán Sheehan are named in the spine of the Cork football team for Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin – but their chances of actually recovering in time hang in the balance.
Canty, Cork’s inspirational leader and certainly their most versatile player, suffered a grade two tear of his hamstring when cantering forward to punch a point in the defeat of Roscommon on August 2nd.
The minimum recovery time for such damage is three weeks and Canty was only performing light jogging up to last night. Still, manager Conor Counihan names him at centre back. If the Cork captain was fully fit he would be the main candidate to shadow Dublin’s only guaranteed All Star this season, Bernard Brogan.
Should Canty fail a fitness test, hurling full back Eoin Cadogan looks the favourite to come back into the side with Michael Shields perhaps freed to the half-back line.
Sheehan, a stand out performer as Cork won an under-21 AllIreland title last year and a target for several Australian Rules outfits, hobbled out of Croke Park after the defeat of Roscommon with a damaged knee.
Again, he is selected, but Colm O’Neill is primed to start should he fail to recover. O’Neill was dropped for Donnacha O’Connor who made an impressive impact off the bench in the quarter-finals.
Counihan has altered every area of his team as he struggles to find an All-Ireland-winning balance with veteran defender John Miskella named at corner back ahead of Jamie O’Sullivan although Miskella will surely be more visible further up the field.
Nicholas Murphy seemed certain to regain a midfield starting berth as Derek Kavanagh was dropped, but Alan O’Connor is preferred to partner 20-year-old rookie Aidan Walsh.
It seems extremely likely that Murphy will see some game time along with Kavanagh as Counihan has tended to change the midfield in most matches this season.
The same can be said of the two injury worries as, should Cork find themselves in trouble on Sunday, the indications are strong that Canty and Sheehan will be able to feature in the latter stages.
Meanwhile, the Monaghan senior football panel have issued a statement backing Séamus McEnaney to continue as team manager for another season.
TYRONE:(MFC v Mayo): M McReynolds, S McGarrity, C Clarke, HP McGeary, N Sludden, M Donaghy, E Deeney, C Grugan, H Og Conlon, R Donnelly, T Canavan, R Devlin, S Tierney, J McCullagh, R O'Neill.
